Kramer vs. Kramer

Who is, logically, the best person to consult in order to find a fresh perspective into understanding Michael Richards’ now notorious performance at The Laugh Factory in which he dropped the N-bomb like it was going out of style? How about the man on whom his most famous role, Cosmo Kramer, was based? From Yahoo! News:

“I know the guy,” Kramer said of Richards. “He’s not this outgoing ball of fun that people would expect Kramer to be. They think he’s be exciting, lovable, laughable. But he’s quiet, introspective, even paranoid. He’s a very wound-up guy. But I don’t think he’s a racist.” The real Kramer lived 10 years in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment across the hall from “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David, and his life became the framework for Richards’ quirky, bumbling Seinfeld sidekick, right down to the location of Kramer’s apartment.

I like the idea of consulting as many tangentially related people surrounding this situation as possible. Next stop, the actors who played Bizarro Kramer in that one episode where Elaine finds the parallel-universe versions of her “Seinfeld” friends, as well as the actor who was cast as Kramer in Jerry and George’s sitcom pilot.